Surprises
by catwin
Summary: “You’re going to get yourself killed one day and I won’t be there to save you… then we’d both be dead.” He said curtly; scolding her for her recklessness. "'Both' of us, Gaara?" SakuraxGaara


_Surprises_

_One Shot_

_catwin_

_-----_

"You're going to get yourself killed one day and I won't be there to save you… then we'd both be dead." He said curtly; scolding her for her recklessness.

Sakura cupped her chin lazily with one hand and briefly glanced at him and then back to the deep navy coloured sky. Her injured arm stayed in her lap.

"'Both' of us, Gaara?" She smirked, like she had won a victory. It was a pleasure correcting him with his stubborn nature; it was sweeter when she won.

He never failed to surprise her, though his lack of emotional development. Gaara would have such a strong vibe of superiority that people either flocked to his side or shrunk in innocent fear, yet he was so… nice. He could be so brutal to an opponent in battle, yet be so gentle and calm when it came to his beloved village. He was a living oxymoron. Though the two adolescents were the early age of twelve when they first locked eyes with each other, Sakura felt he started to grow after they had met, mentally. He was ice cold at the beginning; talking to no one and avoiding everyone. Temari had proved her hypothesis to be correct- without her knowledge in one of their brief conversations.

The sandy blond had explained how she was so happy that Gaara was finally connected to people although she would express her sadness that sheandher brother weren't the ones to provide him with reassurance first. Sakura couldn't help but turn the corners of her lips upwards after Temari enlightened Sakura on the behaviour he had started to display. She admitted to being surprised, in a suspicious way, but he was her baby brother, she had to train herself to trust him.

Then again, he never exactly failed to surprise anyone.

Sakura liked him; and she knew she did. But her pessimistic, and usually more logical, conscious would usually come over and scold her for even thinking such things- she had no time to create distractions when she should be focusing on the extensive training her mentor was putting on her shoulders. She constantly reminded herself that he was of a higher authority than her and that Gaara was even more preoccupied than her and she knew about all the girls that had fallen for him in the village. This was the part that provided a nuisance for the pink haired. She had only been to Suna for brief periods of time with Tsunade, so who knew if he had fallen for another girl? To him, she thought, she was a mere friend that he spoke to regularly. Sakura would have liked it to become more but she was afraid to leap over her edge of her comfort zone.

There was also her former reputation following her from when she was younger, more naïve and gullible. Most people believe she would be the one to wait for Sasuke to one day return to Konoha. This costed her many opportunities for an intimate relationship with another male. She scoffed at their behaviour however; they were just afraid of rejection- she reassured herself that any male that wasn't willing it take chances wasn't the one for her.

She promised herself to focus to prove she wasn't weak.

But now she was here; with a broken arm. She went on a very short outing with the Kazekage before being faced with some strong opponents, looking for a good hostage to capture. In the middle of the brawl, she allowed herself to be distracted by an opponent while watching her back to see if Gaara was all right. This was another major issue. She knew he could take care of himself but she had to worry. He no longer had Shukaku and had to cope with the thought of working to aid himself in battle. The opponent saw his opening and smashed her with his club.

She fell unconscious but when Sakura had thankfully awoken, he by her bedside, mumbling inaudible nothings to himself. She could remember quite clearly that it was the middle of the night, almost dawn, even though her vision was blurred. She especially remembered Gaara himself. He was sitting in the florescent orange plastic chair that was kept in the hospital room for visitors. He had his two fingers pinching the bridge of his nose and his eyes were closed tightly.

After much explaining, scolding and questioning, she had managed to convince the young Kazekage to take her outdoors early in the morning.

"Yes both of us," he answered quietly, just loud enough for her to hear. It threw her off.

"But that isn't logical." She protested. "How would you get killed if you aren't there?"

"I can't imagine living without you in my life."

He was unleashing his effect on her again. Her heart began to pound but the feeling wasn't like previous ones. Sakura couldn't figure why she would feel differently. Her large apple-green eyes blinked numerous times at the man in front of her. Was that a proclamation of love or just a proclamation?

"I don't quite understand." She was thankful she could create a straight sentence.

He ran his fingers through his rusty hair as if thinking of what to say next. "You're important…"

"You didn't exactly answer my question." Sakura trailed off, avoiding his gaze and looking at the sandy colour below in the valley.

"I'm not exactly sure how to explain," He said rapidly. "A story is created by different characters; the more main ones play a role. You play one in my life or story if you want to keep that façade of an explanation. I need all the people in my life. As you can tell my… human nature is just adjusting. I have no problem admitting that I need help."

Sakura felt her insides plummet. Her logic was almost always correct, and this was not an exception.

"Hypothetically, if Naruto were to be in the same situation, would you be saying all of this to him or would you save his little brain from exploding?" She questioned without missing a beat. She was used to his ups and downs her soaring hopes.

"It would be quite awkward if I ever said something like this to Naruto that is if he understood it, so I probably wouldn't- but the same concept is put on him. I'm surprised you'd even ask, Naruto was the person who, I suppose, saved me from myself. But I might add that I probably wouldn't die."

"It was technically Shukaku whom he saved you from- you had no choice."

"I suppose… "

One of the few things she knew was that he was sensitive to this subject.

So she changed it.

"You still never answered my question on why you would die yourself but not for Naruto." She reminded him. He was playing mind games with her.

"If I answer will you promise to go back in without a word?" He bargained.

"…Fine. I guess." She locked her gaze on the scene in front of her, memorizing every small detail of the breathtaking landscape.

"Would you understand if I said the possibility of myself having an infatuation with you is quite plausible?" With that he stood taking her breath along with him. She continued to stare but her mind couldn't process anything except for his last few words. It felt like this was too good- it couldn't be real, yet her hopes soared anyways, in hopes that he meant what she thought.

"You can answer tomorrow." He called, surprising her.

Like he always does.

------

A/N. Yeah… that was just a little thing that sprung up in my mind about an hour ago. This is going to stay a one-shot, I simply feel that it just needs to be left like that.

I hope you like it. Please review (:


End file.
